Severe tendon injury

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chester2010

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My 6 year old show-jumper has just been diagnosed with a severe rupture of his deep digital flexor tendon which has also ruptured into his tendon sheath. He's incredibly lame on it (10/10) and has been at Liphook Hospital having numerous scans as vets cannot understand how he has caused so much damage (it happened in a 2 hour gap in his stable between 6:30pm - 8pm). He is in a soft cast and stuck on 3 months of box rest before they re scan it to see how it is healing if at all. They think a total of 9-12 months healing time before I can even think about getting back on. They also say he won't ever jump again which is obviously devastating for such a young and talented horse. Surgery is available but it does not reduce the healing time or change the outcome so we don't really see much point in spending thousands on an op that won't change the long term. He is insured but unfortunately we have already spent what he is covered for with countless scans and x rays and overnight stays in hospital.

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of injury and what the outcome was...good or bad.

I have been recommend to use an ArcEquine. Does anyone know if they really do work? The brand ambassador says that with using one he will return to jumping and his usual athletic ability...can this be true for what i was told was a catastrophic career ending injury?

He also has a pair of horseware ice vibe boots to help the healing but these can't be used for a month until he changes into a normal bandage which is changed daily as current support bandage is being changed weekly.

Any comments appreciated. Good or bad!!
 
So sorry for you .I had one once who escalated a minor check ligament injury into a major DDF one whole on box rest .
I would ask a good ACPAT type physio about laser and ultrasound therapy .
Of course if the cast is not removable you will have to wait .
You can hire ultrasound machines through most physio's ( I am expecting one today for my horse who has broken a rib ).
But the really good lasers can do damage so you need a trained person to use it , most physio's should have one .
Really really rotten luck horses really are hell sometimes .
 
My ACPAT physio recommends the ARC Equine. She also recommends the IceVibe boot which I bought and use on my horse whenever I do schooling or up the level of work during his rehab. It has really helped with his injury, although not as serious as your horses injury - slight suspensory branch sprain in my horses case, six months from initial injury into almost full work and hopefully back to full work in another month or so.

I think there might be a few threads on here about ARC Equine if you do a search on the site. Good luck and sorry for your horses injury. It must be devastating for you.

Here are some I have found for you : http://www.bing.com/search?q=arc+eq...&src=IE-TopResult&FORM=IETR02&conversationid=
 
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I had very good results with an arc for a suspensory ligament injury. Complete healing in 12 weeks and still sound on it (she still has sick note - itis :sigh: 1 x bilateral ovariectomy and currently off with a foot abscess).

I also used it on my now 4yo for a spinal cord injury at C5 after he rolled under a post and rail fence and got stuck (fractured wing of C5 and chipped C2) just over 18 months ago. He had no use of the right hind at his worst and had 10 days in intensive care at the vets. Fortunately responded to steroids and NSAIDs and put the Arc on when he got home. Vet said IF he recovered enough for ridden work he would be approximately 18 months behind in his milestones. At 6 weeks post injury he was cleared to start rehab and limited turnout. Full rehab programme in hand designed by my sports therapist. At 6 months post injury the vet discharged him and OK'd him to start lunging (as part of his rehab). He passed the vetting at his 3yo Futurity 9 months post injury.
He is off to be backed shortly, only delayed as he had a growth spurt over the winter (supposed to be 15.3hh max and he's heading for 17hh :eek: ), then my backing person injured his shoulder.
The only caveat the vet has put on anything was the advice not to event or jump him as he will be vulnerable to further injury if he fell badly as the bits of bone are still there (they were completely detached from the main vertebral body). Have to confess he put his hooves in his ears over that piece of advice as he has jumped the electric fence dividing the fields 3 times in the last 6 weeks. Fences are a minimum of 3'9", most 4 foot and he cleared it fine!

The research for the Arc in tendon injuries was done on racehorses with catastrophic injury that the vets had written off. IIRC there were 18 in the group and all came sound and all returned to racing. Not sure if that was jump or flat though.
 
chester2010 said:
My 6 year old show-jumper has just been diagnosed with a severe rupture of his deep digital flexor tendon which has also ruptured into his tendon sheath. He's incredibly lame on it (10/10) and has been at Liphook Hospital having numerous scans as vets cannot understand how he has caused so much damage (it happened in a 2 hour gap in his stable between 6:30pm - 8pm). He is in a soft cast and stuck on 3 months of box rest before they re scan it to see how it is healing if at all. They think a total of 9-12 months healing time before I can even think about getting back on. They also say he won't ever jump again which is obviously devastating for such a young and talented horse. Surgery is available but it does not reduce the healing time or change the outcome so we don't really see much point in spending thousands on an op that won't change the long term. He is insured but unfortunately we have already spent what he is covered for with countless scans and x rays and overnight stays in hospital.

I am wondering if anyone else has experienced this type of injury and what the outcome was...good or bad.

I have been recommend to use an ArcEquine. Does anyone know if they really do work? The brand ambassador says that with using one he will return to jumping and his usual athletic ability...can this be true for what i was told was a catastrophic career ending injury?

He also has a pair of horseware ice vibe boots to help the healing but these can't be used for a month until he changes into a normal bandage which is changed daily as current support bandage is being changed weekly.

Any comments appreciated. Good or bad!!
Click to expand...

what crap luck. Did he do the injury jumping?
 
You can buy a machine very similar to the arc equine but for humans and much much cheaper I try to dig out the name and add it later .
 
We had a horse who ruptured his DDFT completely - there was a 2" gap between the two ends of the tendon on the scan. He was cantering across common land and put his foot down on a soft bit of ground, but caught his toe on a stone, so over extended the tendon.

We were told a year's box rest and he might be field sound at the end of it. Given that he was 17, and had other issues, we decided not to put him through it.

Best of luck with your boy - you have youth on your side, and lots more scientific developments in the years since we lost Monty.
 
He did it in the stable between me finishing the yard at 6.30pm and going back at 8pm to put rugs on when i found him hopping lame..He had walked around the block for 10 mins that morning but nothing was wrong before or after this until later that evening. Vets think it was a freak accident in the stable
 
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